Departmental Official Hospitality

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies spent on hospitality in each year since 1997.

Owen Paterson: On 12 April 2010 the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) transferred responsibility for policing and justice to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Comparable figures for the Department as it is now configured are not available.
	Since 12 April the Department has spent £234 on hospitality.
	The NIO has no agencies. It has one non-departmental public body which has incurred no cost on hospitality since 12 April.

Rural Payments Agency

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much the Rural Payments Agency spent on  (a) advertising,  (b) public relations,  (c) consultants,  (d) bonuses,  (e) entertainment and  (f) overtime in each of the last five years.

James Paice: The amounts spent by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) on advertising, public relations, consultants/contractors, bonuses, entertainment and overtime in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.
	In respect of advertising and public relations the RPA Communications Directorate, responsible for dealing with advertising and public relations, was established as a separate entity in November 2006. Unfortunately the data required to provide information for the 2006-07 financial year and earlier years are not held in a form that is easily accessible. As the extraction and collation of these data would require a considerable amount of work and incur an unacceptable cost an answer cannot be provided.
	The figures shown for advertising relate to space paid for in print/online media to raise awareness of existing and new RPA managed schemes, regulatory changes and application deadlines, as well as recruitment activity during the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years.
	The figures shown for public relations encompass external public relations activity to raise awareness of RPA managed schemes, direct costs in media relations and agricultural shows during the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years.
	With effect from 2007-08 RPA does not employ consultants. From then all external resources employed to provide expert opinion, including holding interim position, are recognised and accounted for as contractors.
	Entertainment figures relate to refreshments for meetings.
	The bonus amounts include payments made to senior civil servants in RPA.
	
		
			  Financial year  Advertising (£)  Public relations (£)  Consultants and contractor staff costs (£ million)  Bonuses (£000)  Entertainment (£)  Overtime  (£) 
			 2005-06 n/a n/a 29.5 252 81,292.58 3,865,888 
			 2006-07 n/a n/a 27.9 302 104,924.90 3,899,571 
			 2007-08 101,943 150,678 23.4 452 95,021.01 3,312,792 
			 2008-09 111,749 90,830 23.2 559 93,518.21 3,116,143 
			 2009-10 164,903 94,014 25.0 513 49,734.98 2,521,496 
			 n/a = not available

Betting Shops: Gaming Machines

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  if he will bring forward proposals to limit the right of betting shops to operate slot machines on their premises;
	(2)  if he will undertake a study to assess the effects on the level of gambling addiction of permitting betting shops to operate slot machines on their premises.

John Penrose: At present the Government have no plans to reduce the limit of four gaming machine for licensed betting premises. All licensed gambling operators are subject to a range of controls through the Gambling Act 2005, which include access to gaming machines, limits on stake and prize and the number of machines that can be offered.
	All operators must comply with the Gambling Commission's Licence Conditions and Code of Practice, which include specific provisions in relation to underage and problem gambling, access, staff training and self exclusion. In addition all gaming machines licensed in gambling premises must comply with the Commission's gaming machine technical standards and gaming machine testing strategy.
	The Government are aware of concerns regarding higher stake, higher prize gaming machines and levels of problem gambling in Great Britain. In the last two years the Commission has undertaken research into a range of issues associated with these types of machines and published several independent reports. These are available on the Commission's website:
	http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/research __consultations/research/research_programme/gaming_machines_research_ progr.aspx
	Building on the Commission's work, the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board is taking forward a research programme on higher stake higher prize gaming machines as one of its initial priorities and is expected to publish further details of that programme later this year.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS was of treating alcohol-related health conditions in each of the last 10 years.

Anne Milton: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, in 2003 the annual cost of alcohol misuse to the national health service in England was quantified at £1.4 billion-£1.7 billion in 2001 prices Cabinet Office (2003), Alcohol misuse: how much does it cost? Available at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/work_areas/alcohol_misuse/background.aspx
	A more recent estimate of £2.7 billion per year for 2006-07 was published in Cost of alcohol harm to the NHS, Department of Health, 2007. Available at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Closedconsultations/DH_086412?PageOperation=email

Charities

Ian Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many registered charities are based in  (a) Wrexham,  (b) Wales and  (c) the UK.

Nick Hurd: Charity law is a devolved issue with each independent regulator having separate responsibility for the maintenance of a register of charities based in its territory. In Scotland this is kept by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and in Northern Ireland it is kept by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI). The information requested for charities in Wales falls within the responsibility of the Charity Commission for England and Wales. I have asked the Commission to reply to these aspects of the question.
	 Letter from Andrew Hind, dated 8 July 2010:
	As the Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, I have been asked to respond to your written Parliamentary Question (7826) on how many registered charities are based in (a) Wrexham, (b) Wales and (c) the UK.
	In England and Wales, registered charities are asked to nominate a named correspondent whose contact details are available via the online Register of Charities on our website at:
	www.charitycommission.gov.uk
	Many charities operate in small local areas and for them the contact address we hold is likely to correspond to the charity's area of operation. However many larger charities operate nationally or internationally and the address we hold may be for their head office only.
	With this caveat, the Register of Charities as at 8 July 2010 shows that:
	(a) there are 177 registered charities based in the Parliamentary constituency of Wrexham;
	(b) there are 8,133 registered charities based in Wales; and
	(c) there are 162,243 registered charities based in England and Wales.
	Our website includes a facility to find charities based on the Parliamentary constituency or local authority area of the named contact, and this can be accessed at:
	http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/ShowCharity/registerofcharities/mapping/Search.aspx
	I hope this is helpful.